Method of conducting workplace electronic communication traffic analysis

Abstract

Provided is a computer-implemented method of quantitatively assessing employee integration or harassment in a workplace by using employee information including name and reporting structure to create an organization chart, calculating an expected value for electronic communications between each unidirectional pair of the unique identifiers, acquiring, counting and storing the quantity of actual direct electronic communications between each unidirectional pair of unique identifiers to create a list of communication values, comparing the actual values with the expected values, and outputting a score on match or deviation of actual values compared to expected values to a data file.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method of assessing electronic communications between employees in a workplace to assess employee integration and/or harassment in the workplace, the method including the steps of:
 a) sending and receiving electronic communications having header information between employees in a workplace to create electronic communication server traffic, and storing the electronic communication server traffic in a computer memory, wherein the header information comprises metadata selected from the group consisting of: sender information, recipient information, subject information, time stamp information, and date stamp information; 
 (b) receiving or creating and storing in the computer memory an organizational chart of employees in the workplace, wherein the organizational chart contains employee information comprising employee names, employee reporting structure, social networks between employees, unique identifiers of each employee, and expected values for electronic communications between each unidirectional pair of the unique identifiers; 
 c) using traffic analysis software to:
 (1) analyze the header information in the electronic communication server traffic stored in the computer memory including quantifying the number of direct electronic communications between each unidirectional pair of unique identifiers to create unique communication values, and to store the unique communication values in the computer memory; and 
 (2) overlay the unique communication values onto the organizational chart and to store the overlayed information in the computer memory; 
 
 (d) using visualization software to provide a graphic visualization of the overlayed information stored in the computer memory, wherein the graphic visualization of the overlayed information is representative of employee integration and/or harassment in the workplace; and 
 (e) using social networking software to analyze the unique communication values, including:
 (1) comparing the unique communication values to the organizational chart to create a raw score that is representative of employee integration and/or harassment in the workplace; and 
 (2) weighting the raw score created in step (e)(1) using matrices and/or arrays comprising weighting factors determined from the electronic communication header information and the organizational chart and selected from the group consisting of: density, distance and closeness, spatial distance, and betweenness 
 thereby assessing electronic communications between employees in the workplace to assess employee integration and/or harassment in the workplace in a computer-implemented method. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein during step (c) the quantity of direct electronic communications are divided or multiplied by an integer selected to enhance a visual representation in step (d). 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein during step (c) the expected values are divided or multiplied by an integer selected to enhance a visual representation in step (d). 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the score is a quantitative measure of integration and/or harassment of each employee in a workplace. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises filtering electronic communication to exclude some pairs of unique identifiers and/or some electronic communications. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises receiving and storing metadata characterizing the electronic communication server traffic in the computer memory. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said employee information is received in step (b) from an employee information data file. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein said employee information is received in step (b) by manual entry by a user using a user interface. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1  further including creating a tree data structure representation of an organization chart. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , further including the steps of analyzing, transforming and exporting relational data to the computer memory. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , further including the step of outputting the organization chart containing employee information including additional social networks between employees, unique communication values and the score to a user wherein the user is a psychologist or counselor. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the score is used to assess workplace health. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising outputting unique communication values and the score to a data file and storing the data file in the computer memory. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the assessment of electronic communications between employees in the workplace to assess employee integration and/or harassment in the workplace occurs without analyzing the body contents of the electronic communications. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the organizational chart further comprises electronic communication server traffic flow information between employees.